Nitrox and other academic lessons online

[paddler3d]

I can't remember if I had to have a computer, I'm assuming dive computer, to take the class. I frankly don't recall. For the hands on test, forgot this matter previously, you had to demonstrate on your dive computer that you can set the PPO2 and your Nitrox blend. They couldn't show you how to set these parameters on your computer and then repeat, you had to actually demonstrate you knew how to set these.

The academic portion of the course does show you the math, but it doesn't go into depth. Why? For a recreational diver on Nitrox there is really no need to. This is MHO. Yep, I put it out there. Frankly that is what Advanced Nitrox is for.

The tool was indeed a computer where you would put in two out of the three pieces of info: Your blend, or PPO2, or max depth and it would calculate the 3rd for you.

As soon as I got certified to dive I wanted to get Nitrox certified as well, but I didn't because it seamed expensive and silly learning how to dive a gas by making me take a class where I had to go diving with that gas. As a newbie it really seemed silly and feeling like it was the SCUBA industry trying to get money out of you.

The online class solved this.

I was leary about diving, as a DM Candidate, with folks that only learned the OW online, but they were no different than the folks that sat through the class. No different. If fact there seemed to be less apprehension with the folks do learned online.

 

[Blackwood]

The academic portion of the course does show you the math, but it doesn't go into depth. Why? For a recreational diver on Nitrox there is really no need to. This is MHO. Yep, I put it out there. Frankly that is what Advanced Nitrox is for.

Frankly, no it isn't.

Advanced Nitrox is not "here's the math you should have learned in Basic Nitrox."

 

[paddler3d]

So everyone diving Nitrox needs to know how to do the math of ppGAS/fGAS*depthATA?

Why?

It isn't hard math, but why?

Maybe Advanced Nitrox should be 'oh by the way, here is the relationship and math that you glossed over in basic nitrox that is important.

 

[Blackwood]

Preface: I got into this thread to dispute your suggested purpose for Advanced Nitrox, not to discuss what should be covered in Basic Nitrox.

That said,

So everyone diving Nitrox needs to know how to do the math of ppGAS/fGAS*depthATA?

I'm not sure anyone would need to solve the equation above.

1=pp/(f*ATM) is correct, but it's convoluted since you have to re-write it to solve for anything useful to dive planning.

Competent nitrox divers are able to solve Dalton's Law in more traditional scuba form (pp=f*ATM, or f=pp/ATM); determine ambient pressure based on depth; and solve the MOD and EAD derivations based on the two aforementioned concepts. They further understand how to use results such as PO₂ to determine CNS limits.

Why?
It isn't hard math, but why?

In order to plan dives, the most important aspect of which is establishing practical limits before actually reaching them.

Maybe Advanced Nitrox should be 'oh by the way, here is the relationship and math that you glossed over in basic nitrox that is important.

It should not be a re-cap of anything.

If someone comes into an advanced nitrox class without a fundamental understanding of basic gas relationships, they're doing a disservice to both the instructor and any other students.

Since OTU and CNS limits are reached much more quickly with high oxygen pressures, the academic portion of advanced nitrox is (and should be) about oxygen loading in depth. Further topics are the procedures of gas switching, stage decompression planning, toxing diver rescue, and other considerations unique to diving gases to high PO₂s. I've never seen AEANx offered at the bargain basement prices common to BOW, etc.. Valuable/expensive class time should not be consumed by remedial nitrox math.

 

[ligersandtions]

A lot of stuff on here, but I don't think I found one thing from someone who has taken and online course!

hmmmm, go back to page 1 and check out post #4. I did take the online Nitrox course through SDI and I have to say that I thought it was less than thorough. I get it though....I'm a bit of a snob and I'm okay with that....I see how a course like this would be nice for a vacation diver who wants the benefits of Nitrox but doesn't really care about the underlying concepts.

The course failed to go through much in the way of math (I think an equation was presented once)....mentioned equivalent air depth (but failed to go through any calculations to explain how to calculate it or WHY it was shallower than what your actual depth was)....continued to claim that "as long as you are within a PO2 of 1.6 that there was no risk" (which we all know is silly as some people will have no issues at PO2 of 2.0, while others may tox at 1.3...).

Like I said, I get it....if you want to program something into your computer and allow it to warn you when you're coming close to your MOD, fine....but that's not the way I want to dive. I've done a lot of reading, researching, and talking with experienced divers....without having done that, I think the SDI course would have lulled me into a false sense of security.

I think an online Nitrox course could be very good if presented correctly....I just felt that the SDI course left me wanting.

I would be extremely disappointed if my Advanced Nitrox course (which I won't be taking for a while) were to just go through the math and call it a day.

 

[paddler3d]

hmmmm, go back to page 1 and check out post #4. I did take the online Nitrox course through SDI and I have to say that I thought it was less than thorough. I get it though....I'm a bit of a snob and I'm okay with that....I see how a course like this would be nice for a vacation diver who wants the benefits of Nitrox but doesn't really care about the underlying concepts.

I think you sort of hit it on the nail head. The Basic Nitrox course I took was just that it was basic. I really think that a large percentage of divers out there just want the basic level of training for their trips to the warm clear blue tropical waters, using their dive computer.

I was at my LDS reading some industry magazine and I came across some marketing statistic that something like 2% of the population of the US are Certified Divers. Of that 2%, something like less than 20% dive regularly.

According to the census bureau the US population is currently around 306,517,636. Two percent, 6,130,352 are Certified Divers. Then roughly 1,226,070 dive regularly!

That is just not a lot of folks doing this when you consider how many miles of coast line the US has and the fact that the world is mostly covered in water.

That is two Baltimore Cities or 23 Arcadia's.

How many of that remaining group of Certified Divers may be holding back on furthering their SCUBA education because they may be apprehensive about the amount of content that could be present in an online scuba course?

For the rest of us, you (a chemical engineer), me, the aerospace engineer above, we'll search to improve our knowledge, but we're a small odd group. That is why I have a nice bookshelf dedicated to an array of tech diving books, so I can further learn and hope that one day my certifications will catch up.

 

[Teamcasa]

According to the census bureau the US population is currently around 306,517,636. Two percent, 6,130,352 are Certified Divers. Then roughly 1,226,070 dive regularly!

How many of that remaining group of Certified Divers may be holding back on furthering their SCUBA education because they may be apprehensive about the amount of content that could be present in an online scuba course?

I would think that the number of divers holding back additional training or education is more likely an attitude of, "I'm certified, I can dive on vacation, that's good enough for me." or "Why do I need to spend the extra money on that, my diving is just fine.".

Online training will put off some and entice others, so be it.

 

[gbray]

I think there is more to having a real person instruct you than is given credit for. Ever try reading a calculus book and then taking the exam to get a degree? Colleges are all theoretical in what they teach, yet they have attendance requirements. some people just require an explanation in addition to reading off a computer screen. In something that can mean the difference between life and death I prefer the human touch.

 

[TSandM]

Learning is an individual experience. Some people learn faster than others; some learn through watching, others through description. There's a whole study of learning strategies and the design of instructional materials.

From my own standpoint, I think online classrooms for subjects like Nitrox make extremely good sense. Someone with a good math and science background can work very quickly through the subject (which is, in fact, a limited one), do a few problems to verify mastery of the concepts, and even watch a video on the use of common O2 analyzers, and make very efficient use of their time. Someone else may need more examples (easy to set up in an interactive program), or may need more time to digest the information. Why should I sit through a couple of hours of an instructor trying to explain something to someone that I got the first time through? Why should the slower student suffer the embarrassment of being the only person in the room who hasn't grasped something yet? Online materials permit real individualization in a way that makes efficient use of time.

I honestly wish that online academics had been available when I did my OW class. I would happily have spent my own time on the book learning, and enjoyed MORE time in a pool or in OW with an instructor. Academics were easy, but the physical act of diving was far more challenging. Rather than listen to someone drone on, essentially reading to me the book material I had already read (and done the knowledge reviews for), we could have been working on my DIVING!

 

[boulderjohn]

I think there is more to having a real person instruct you than is given credit for. Ever try reading a calculus book and then taking the exam to get a degree? Colleges are all theoretical in what they teach, yet they have attendance requirements. some people just require an explanation in addition to reading off a computer screen. In something that can mean the difference between life and death I prefer the human touch.

An online clas is not like reading a textbook and getting what you can from it. Sure, some poorly designed online classes created by a professor who was told to prepaer an online class for he next semester may have that quality, but professionally created online classes are much more complex than that. They make use of multi-media, interactive games and other activities, all kinds of formative checks, and...get ready for this--a real live teacher who is part of the process.

You said,

Colleges are all theoretical in what they teach, yet they have attendance requirements.

That is often untrue. I would guess just about every college in America offers online classes, and some major colleges offer fully online degrees. That's America--many other countries are doing at elast that much or more.